This story is set in the 40k Universe of the Warhammer games, I don't own the world, or the ranks/jobs/titles/equipment etc but the characters are fully my own. If there's anything too gruesome/violent I will put a warning at the beginning of the relevant chapter.
In the shuttle's crew compartment, Inquisitor Draco Silver gazed at the pale girl before him; as an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor, he'd seen more mutants than he could remember, and had destroyed most of them. This girl wasn't just a mutant though, she was a Psyker. He knew that with certainty, also certain was that she wasn't merely pale from shock. He looked away from her to his friend and bodyguard, wondering if Dareth had noticed anything out of the ordinary. He didn't doubt it; it wasn't often one came across a girl in her early teenage years with white hair. Bleached hair wasn't uncommon on some worlds, he knew, but pure milk-white hair was almost unheard of even in as vast an area as the Imperium. In the rare occasions he had heard of it; it had been deemed a mutation, and some over zealous ecclesiarch had slain the child. True enough, hair of such a colour was indeed the sign of mutation, but of what kind of mutation was as important as the mutation itself.
Draco could sense great depths of untapped power in the girl, and was thankful that the preacher in the girl's village had been sensible enough not to simply jump to the conclusion of thinking the girl a monster. He'd seen her potential, and had informed the Administratum of his suspicions.
As usual, the sheer beaurocracy of the Administratum had prevented anything from being done about it, so the girl had grown up under the preacher's care, and he'd done his best to help her curb the power down the correct channels, instilling a strong sense of right and wrong in her mind. Draco had come to this system because he was chasing a heretical cult through the Warp and this planet, Trykus VI, had seemed the most likely location for them to flee to. As occasionally happened with Warp travel, however, the warp currents had experienced a surge, and the battleship he'd commandeered had arrived in this system almost twenty days before he'd even set off in pursuit of the cult leaders. Thus he'd opted to simply wait for their arrival. As a precaution, he'd landed planetside with a company's worth of Stormtroopers, all of whom new of the Cult, and their heresies. The Soldiers were to remain on the relatively small Agri-world, in order to bolster and aid the Planetary Defence Force Regiments.
Knowing he needed take no real part in the task of informing the planet's governor of the likelihood of the cult's approach, and that he would be less comfortable on the battleship, he and Dareth, under the guise of travelling historians on a fact-finding mission, had begun exploring the planet; always staying close enough to an obvious landmark for quick extraction, but far enough away to enjoy their wanderings to the fullest.
It had been near the end of yet another day's exploration, searching for somewhere to spend the night, that they'd found a settlement in the mountains; where they'd found beds in a building owned by the church.
Though undoubtedly pious, the preacher had been perfectly amiable, joining them in a drink. After a few glasses of some recently purchased Amasec, Draco had been speaking of some of the things he'd seen on his travels; carefully omitting the real reasons he'd gone to those places of course, and glossing over the deaths and horrors with the ease of long practice. Something he'd said, something he'd assumed at the time was completely inconsequential; certainly he couldn't remember now what it had been, the Preacher had suddenly recalled the girl.
Draco hadn't been lucky enough to find the exact preacher of course, but the two knew each other well, and on the occasions when Malakai, as the girl's guardian was named, expected to spend longer than a day in isolated meditation, she had come to stay in that very hall.
Not wanting to arouse suspicion, Draco did not press too hard for information about the girl, asking more about Malakai, saying that it would be good to know somewhere they might find a bed in perhaps a dew days time, while knowing full well he intended to find the girl much quicker than that. Something told him that allowing her to become part of the Adepta Astra Telepathica, or a tool for the Imperial Guard would be a severe waste. He rarely had unexplainable feelings like this, but they had always boded well before, and he hoped this would be no different.
Now he sat with the white haired girl facing him, her slender form held in place by the bulky seat straps, her eyes to the floor. Those eyes; he'd never seen any like them, and had no idea if that meant anything or if it was just a trait possessed by some natives of this world. Both the girls parents had died when she was very young (He thought it best not to speculate why) so it would be impossible to check them for the odd colourings.
Either way, it wasn't too important, he knew she had a gift, she had proven it many times since their first meeting. Her powers were undeveloped, and she tried her best to control them, but they were influenced by her emotions, as he learned not long after arriving in the church.
Malakai was preaching energetically to the population of Peak's Gate about the evils of mutation; more than a little ironically Draco thought. It had been some time since Draco had simply sat and listened to a sermon, and realised that this preacher was unlike most of the ones Draco had known as a child. His appearance matched most Imperial citizens vision of a Preacher; his long white beard contrasting starkly with the gleaming dome of his cranium; his wizened old hands gripping the edges of his lectern as he gazed down at the congregation; dark eyes seeming to bore into the depths of every soul present, seeing every impure thought and secret desire. Despite knowing full well it was his imagination, Draco unconsciously raised his mental barriers. It was his voice that was different. Most preachers in these communities had an unshakable belief in the imperial creed, but had never seen a millionth of the horrors the universe contained. Malakai spoke with the dreadful certainty of a man who had seen and overcome more than his fair share of evils.
That last thought almost made Draco chuckle, reflecting that if the evils of the universe were shared out fairly, there would be plenty less Imperial citizens alive. Laughing in the middle of a sermon was undoubtedly foolish; not least because Malakai looked like the kind of priest to interpret such an interruption as an insult to the Emperor.
He listened silently to the rest of Malakai's sermon, he and Dareth standing just out of sight behind a pair of pillars. They had entered the church as the sermon neared its end, and it wasn't long before Malakai instructed his congregation to begin the final hymn 'The Purging Flames'. Draco took pleasure in adding his voice to those of some of the people he had vowed to protect when he joined the Ordo.
When the last words of the hymn died down, the people began filing out of the church, Draco waited until the majority had gone past him before striding up the central walkway between the pews where a few of the most pious were still seated in silent prayer. Malakai stepped own from his lectern to join the two of them; "I would prefer it that you apologize next time, should you ever arrive late to one of my sermons." The man's voice seemed quiet and calm now, an odd contrast to the volume and authority it commanded from the pulpit.
"My apologies Preacher Malakai, I thought it best not to interrupt." Draco bowed his head, and the priest accepted his apology with a small bow of his own. "Many have thought that; they seem to find me intimidating," he let out a chuckle, "I can't imagine why. Come now, what's your name young man? Not fair to me not to know who I'm talking to is it?"
Draco found that he was unable to keep from laughing; the man had an energetic humour that infected everything he said. "My name is Draco Silver, and my associate here is Dareth Solix, we're here to learn about your world."
"Well, I'll help as best I can, Mr Silver, but there's not too much to tell. I have rooms available if you need them, though I was under the impression you wouldn't be here so soon." He caught the momentary surprise on Draco's face and smiled. "Just because I didn't recognise your face doesn't mean I don't remember the people my friends tell me about. Sebastian voxed me about his talk with you this morning."
Draco smiled, wondering why he'd been on edge about something so obvious, and bowed in thanks; "I appreciate it preacher; but first, is there somewhere we can talk privately?"
Malakai indicated the confessional with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, "I don't think there's anywhere more private on the planet than a confessional, might be a squeeze for you two though." He laughed again, and both Draco and Dareth both joined him, until he gestured through a door to their right and led them from the chapel.
The buildings near to the church seemed to function both as a hostel for travellers and Malakai's personal accommodation. Each room in the complex contained a single bed and sufficient storage space for any traveller. After finding them each a key and showing them everything they might need to find, they entered what was clearly the common room, large, comfortable looking chairs were gathered around tables in groups of varying sizes, and Malakai sat in one of a group of three armchairs near the window. The rest of the room was devoid of life, and Malakai informed them that their privacy was guaranteed as they were the only guests currently in residence.
In order to ease them all into a story-telling mood, Dareth reached into his pack, and drew out a bottle of amasec and three glasses; Malakai accepted his glass and swirled the first mouthful appreciatively, before swallowing and setting the glass down to begin his account of what he knew of the planet's history.
"After its reunification with the rest of the Imperium by the Great Crusade, I know very little about the history of this world, it being mostly concerned with the passing of governorship from one person to another, and to my knowledge the enemies of mankind have set foot here only once. 63 years ago, a swarm of bloodthirsty Orks descended on this peaceful system. Luckily for this world's inhabitants, a Force of Imperial Guard was nearby, and the soldiers were able to lend their aid in its defence." Draco felt he knew where this particular story was heading.
"You were serving with that guard force weren't you?"
Malakai grinned, "Aye, that I was. Sergeant Malakai, that was me back then. First time I'd fought a foe as destructive as the Orks though, having mostly seen Tau and Eldar before then." His face fell, the humour replaced by a sadness he'd clearly felt for many years. "Seeing what they'd done to this place, I handed in my resignation and took a position here helping the PDF get back together. Eventually, I got too old for that, and found this little village."
The rest of the evening passed pleasantly enough, with Draco and Dareth telling stories of their own about planets they'd visited. Despite the comfortable atmosphere, it wasn't long before Draco found himself wondering how to bring up the topic of the girl. Fortunately, he was saved the trouble when she knocked quietly and the door opened. "Mr Silver, Mr Solix, I'd like to introduce you to Hyara. She lives here, and helps me with some of the more... energetic aspects of its upkeep." The pale girl was dressed simply in a modest, ankle-length dark brown dress which emphasised her pale skin quite vividly. She bowed to her guardian's guests, her long braid of hair falling across her shoulder as she did so, where it remained as she straightened up, her eyes fixed on a point on the floor in front of her.
The girl didn't say a word, but Malakai nodded and stood up; "Dinner will be ready shortly, so we should move to the dining room. Thank you Hyara."
She bowed again, and turned quickly, the door opening itself before her and closing in the same manner. Draco watched in surprise; "Telepathy and Telekinesis?"
Malakai looked closely at Draco, the same Gimlet stare from his sermon fixing itself onto Draco's eyes. "What do you know of such things?"
Draco stood before Malakai's most withering gaze, looking back at him calmly, which threw the preacher off balance even more than what he said; "I have allowed you to mislead yourself preacher. I am Inquisitor Draco Silver of His Imperial Majesty's most Holy Orders. I am here on behalf of the Ordo Hereticus, and I am requesting that you allow me to take the girl with me when I leave this wor..."
He never even managed to finish the word as the door to the kitchen was blasted from its hinges and crashed into his side, flinging him across the room. Dareth was up before he landed, a bolt pistol in his right hand, brought up to cover his master's attacker.
"Leave her Dareth!" Draco was already back on his feet, his body had been through far worse and he recovered quickly, rolling out from under the door and striding towards the girl. "Hyara, I don't want to do anything to hurt you, but if you throw anything else at me I might not have a choice."
Malakai had walked over beside the girl, placing his hand on her shaking shoulder, and speaking quietly to her, calming her. Eventually, he turned back to Draco, a cold suspicion in his face. "So, Inquisitor, why do you want to take the child away from her home?"
Draco chuckled at the absurdity of the question, but explained anyway; "I was under the assumption you wanted someone to take her for proper training. Why in the name of Holy Terra did you think I wanted to take her away?"
Understandably, Hyara and Malakai had become quite attached to each other and it was clear the old man cared for her as much as he would care for his own child.
Despite this, Malakai knew she should leave sooner rather than drag it out. Their parting was an emotional one, and Draco left them alone until Hyara joined him at the shuttle door, holding the bag which contained all her few belongings. Again she was silent, and Draco knew that before he could teach her how to use her powers properly, she needed to learn when not to.